In the United States, all states require motor vehicle owners to purchase a standard sized, metal, license plate bearing alphanumeric indicia to be fastened to a mounting bracket at the rear of the vehicle. Many states also require a front license plate. Most other countries require that some sort of alphanumeric license plate be mounted on all motor vehicles. In some countries, the vehicle owner does not receive the plate from the governmental agency but must provide the plate by fastening numbers and/or letters to a panel and fasten the panel to the vehicle.
Many vehicles, particularly those of foreign manufacture, do not include a bracket to support a front license plate. In order to mount a required front plate on those vehicles, it is necessary to drill holes in the rounded bumper to mount a generally unsightly bracket. Many people do not mount the required plate, or a personalized plate where allowed, because of the absence of a reasonably attractive mounting bracket.
Many states have accommodated the desire to personalize vehicles by providing personalized or so-called "vanity" plates at considerably higher cost. However, these plates only provide six or seven selected letters or numbers to be used, severely limiting the degree of personalization. There is no convenient way, other than a license plate frame, to add slogans or the like supporting a particular athletic team (e.g. "Go Big Red"), a religious slogan, a city or neighborhood slogan or the like.
License plates are often stolen. Thieves will take plates having unexpired annual stickers to replace their own expired plates or to use on a stolen car to be used in a robbery or the like. Present metal plates fastened by bolts to a mounting bracket can be removed quickly and easily.
The metal plates presently being used are also subject to physical damage from impact with curbs, restraining posts or the like. Since the plates are relatively expensive to manufacture, they tend to be used for quite a number of years, with an annual sticker being attached to show payment of the annual fee. Over the years, the plates will rust, particularly in snow country where the roads are salted in winter, and fade, so that the plates become very unattractive and indica is not easily read.
Ducey in U.S. Pat. No. 2,400,079 describes a multi-layer license plate having a paper sheet bearing registration indicia, an overlying sheet having a cut-out area in alphanumeric shapes over the indicia and a transparent sheath containing the paper and overlying sheet. This license is rigid and complex and does not overcome the above-noted problems.
Another multi-layer license plate is disclosed by Croell in U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,571. Here, a temporary registration paper is bonded to a transparent sheet to protect the paper from the weather. This arrangement is not suitable for permanent license plates.
A holder for portable dealer license plates is described by de Greeve in U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,965. A pocket receives the dealer plate and an advertising strip is provided on the holder adjacent to the plate. A strap is connected to the plate holder for carrying the holder. This plate holder is not suitable for plates permanently fastened to a vehicle.
Thus, there is a continuing need for improved license plates and license plate replacement panels that are attractive, may be attached to vehicles without requiring a mounting bracket, that can be easily personalized over the entire plate or adjacent to any required alphanumeric indicia, that resist theft, rust and impact damage and that are inexpensive and easily replaceable.